Spectral bounds of multi-way Cheeger constants via cyclomatic number

Abstract

As a non-trivial extension of the celebrated Cheeger inequality, the higher-order Cheeger inequalities for graphs due to Lee, Oveis Gharan and Trevisan provide for each $k$ an upper bound for the $k$-way Cheeger constant in forms of $C(k)\sqrt{\lambda_k(G)}$, where $\lambda_k(G)$ is the $k$-th eigenvalue of the graph Laplacian and $C(k)$ is a constant depending only on $k$. In this article, we prove some new bounds for multi-way Cheeger constants. By shifting the index of the eigenvalue via cyclomatic number, we establish upper bound estimates with an absolute constant instead of $C(k)$. This, in particular, gives a more direct proof of Miclo's higher order Cheeger inequalities on trees. We also show a new lower bound of the multi-way Cheeger constants in terms of the spectral radius of the graph. The proofs involve the concept of discrete nodal domains and a probability argument showing generic properties of eigenfunctions.